GANGNEUNG — Marc Kennedy has been in this exact position before and the way things went the first time around made him nervous.

Kennedy is the third for the Canadian men’s curling team at the Olympic Winter Games, a team that won its final round-robin game on Wednesday afternoon to qualify for the semifinals.

Kennedy and Team Canada lead Ben Hebert both played in an Olympic semifinal with Kevin Martin in Vancouver in 2010, and while they won the game over Niklas Edin of Sweden, it was a game that had its perils.

“It’s the toughest game in curling,” Kennedy said. “It was even tougher in Vancouver because we were going in undefeated and playing a team that was 5-4. In the back of your mind you’re thinking you should have a bigger advantage than just last rock.

“We played a little bit tentative and scared in that game and it almost bit us. Niklas made a few mistakes or we might have been ripe for the picking.

“I think we’re going to approach this a little bit different based on how this week went. We’re excited and we’re not going to play with any fear. We just going to go out and do what we do and hope it’s enough.”

Canada, skipped by Kevin Koe, beat Rasmus Stjerne of Denmark 8-3 Wednesday afternoon to clinch second place in the round-robin standings, which gives them the hammer in Thursday night’s semifinal against John Shuster of the United States (6:05 a.m. ET in Canada).

Canada, skipped by Kevin Koe, beat Rasmus Stjerne of Denmark 8-3 Wednesday afternoon to clinch second place in the round-robin standings, which gives them the hammer in Thursday nightâs semifinal against John Shuster of the United States.Natacha Pisarenko /
The Associated Press

The Canadians started the Olympic tournament with four straight wins but lost their next three games, before rebounding to earn second place with a 6-3 record.

“There were some up and downs and the three-game losing streak in the middle kind of put the fear in us and we came out and played well when we needed to, in order to get straight into the playoffs,” Canadian second Brent Laing said.

“We’ll lean on Marc and Ben a little bit now. They’ve talked to us a little bit about the pressure of that semifinal. It’s a different game than we are used to in Canada.”

Sweden, with Edin skipping again, finished first at 7-2 this week and the U.S. placed third with a 5-4 record. Switzerland (Benoit Schwarz) and Great Britain (Kyle Smith) also finished 5-4 but will have to play a tiebreaker Thursday morning to see who takes on Sweden later that night.

For Koe, there have already been some tense moments up to this point and making the medal round was no slam dunk.

“It was a bit of an up and down week here and a couple of days ago we were worried about being in playoff trouble,” Koe said. “So, to bounce back with a couple wins and jump up all the way to second place feels great.”

The United States beat Canada for the first time ever at the Olympics — in men’s or women’s play — earlier in the round robin. Shuster won 9-7 in an extra end.

Shuster, who is competing in this third Olympics, believes all the pressure will be squarely on Canada, which has won the last three Olympic gold medals in men’s curling.

“I think maybe,” Shuster said. “Being the three-time defending gold medallist as a country and having their ladies miss the playoffs … they probably are going to be feeling it.”

Of course, Koe and Co., have played in more than their fair share of high-pressure games. They’ve all won multiple world championships, though not all of them together, along with Olympic gold medals and Canadian Olympic trials.

The team was formed in 2014 with the 2018 gold medal in mind. Now it’s two wins away from achieving that lofty goal.

“This team has been in a lot of big games over the years with Brier finals and world finals and we have some experience on this team with a couple of winners of this event before,” Koe said.

“We won’t do anything different. I like the way we’ve been playing all week. If we keep playing that way and maybe even bring it up another level, we’ll be tough to beat.”

Pfeifer finally slides over Olympic rings

Team Canada alternate player Scott Pfeifer played on one of the greatest teams in men’s curling history, but he never made it to an Olympics.

That changed on Wednesday, when he came in to replace lead Ben Hebert for a couple of ends in a blowout win over Denmark.

“He gave me the old lefty tap,” Pfeifer said. “Pull in the lefty from the bullpen, that is his trademark signal when he wants me to come in.”

Pfeifer played second for Randy Ferbey’s Edmonton team for many years, winning four Briers and three world championships. He also played in three Canadian Olympic trials, but the Ferbey Four never got curling’s biggest dance.

“It was amazing,” Pfeifer said. “It was the first time I felt that type of butterflies since I stepped on Brier ice back in 2001. To be under the spotlight, sliding over the Olympic rings, was an amazing feeling.”

The Canadians made a snap decision to put Pfeifer in after taking an 8-2 win in the fifth end.

“Impromptu, totally impromptu,” third Marc Kennedy said. “For me it was a real honour cause (Pfeifer) was one of my childhood idols. We grew up in the same city. To be on the Olympic ice with him was a real treat.”

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